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Recommended MCSE, CCNP Training Courses

I am currently CCNA certified looking to advance my knowledge and career by become CCNP and MCSE certified.

Searching Google there are many companies that offer Cisco and Microsoft training as well as bootcamps, most being 14 days in length. I thought that since AO is a member base of industry professionals (hopefully) I would ask for any recommendations on where to take Cisco and Microsoft courses? Also, if anyone has any recommendations for Juniper courses, as these are hard to find and Google returns sites like Boson, TestKing, etc. which are just braindump sites.

I bought the training kits from Microsoft and I am building my own 2003 server network. I guess the real questions are:
How long will the 2003 server MCSE be valid?
When will Vista certification become available?

If you're looking to learn, then certs provide a good 'path' to follow as far as acquainting yourself with the different technologies, but the testing material does not even come close to measuring your ability to deal with real-life circumstances.

That being the case, certs help you get by the people in HR who typically don't care enough to understand the different technologies/platforms that you've listed on your resume, but would rather see the MCSE plastered on there before the pass it on to the higher ups. You could be an Active Directory-ing, group policy writing genius, but it wouldn't mean squat to them if you didn't have your MCSE.

Stay away from boot camps. If you're going to learn on your own, pick up books and following along. Most come with trial versions of Windows Server that let you install, test destroy, rebuild, etc. until you've had your fill of them. As far as what books to recommend, there wasn't anything particularly outstanding available when I went through the exams and I'm thinking that still holds true. I do remember that the CCNA material from Cisco Press was extremely well-written, however.

To recap, the attainment of knowledge won't simply come from studying for a cert, it merely provides a path. Boot camps are evil and it's completely impossible to absorb all of that material in 14 weeks (you could certainly pass the exams during that time, but the understanding that you need for any job you get is going to take much longer to develop). Books and homemade labs are your best study options.